RICHARD TRUMKA

Friends, I'm angry about what's happening in politics today! Why is it wrong to ask the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations to pay their fair share?

I do believe that freedom isn't free - but today the corporate and political right wing is trying to cheapen this truly American value. They've been cynically using the word 'freedom' to rally the American public against its own best interests.

In the past we couldn't talk to non-union workers. Now we can at least talk to non-union workers so we'll be mobilizing them and educating them not for just six or eight months before an election, but we'll be doing it year-round.

We can support Barack Obama because he's committed to putting America back to work with good jobs - and he proved it by saving the auto industry.

And, you know, money is - the money edge is really dangerous to democracy. Because what you have right now - people have said to me that, look, you'll always be outspent, so how can you ever win?

We're building an independent political program that can run electoral politics and then turn on a dime to hold our leaders to task, in case they suddenly develop that old case of amnesia! We'll be there to remind them what they promised and who they promised to work for!

When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, Sarah Palin tweeted, 'Obama lies; freedom dies.' She's referring, I guess, to the freedom to go without health care when you're sick.

You see, to me, it doesn't really matter if an elected official has a D or an R behind her name, or his name. I honestly don't give a damn about who belongs to either political party.

There is nothing stronger than the American labor movement. United, we cannot and we will not be turned aside. We'll work for it, sisters and brothers. We'll stand for it. Together. Each of us. To bring out the best in America. To bring out the best in ourselves, and each other.

What I care about is whether or not a leader will work with America's working people, whether or not a leader cares about responsibility and honest work and whether or not a leader will fight to keep the American Dream alive.

Take a stand against intolerance and for our American values. Say it with pride: I support democracy in America. I support working people in America. I support opportunity in America. And I support Barack Obama for another four years as president of the United States of America!

We can support President Barack Obama, because he supports us. We can support Barack Obama, because he shares our values and our vision.

Time after time we're told corporations should have freedom from pesky job safety regulations, environmental protections and labor standards - giving working people the freedom to be crushed in collapsing mines, choke on filthy air and get paid too little to live on.

I say let's go back to a truer use of the word 'freedom.' Let's start with President Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. I would add the freedom to bargain collectively. Those freedoms are under attack today.

You see, without hard work and responsibility, there is no American Dream. Hard work lays the foundation. Our solidarity makes work pay - for all of us. For the greater good. That's what our vision of shared prosperity is all about.

I’ll stop demonizing business when business stops putting their profits before the country and starts putting their workers before their greed.

There is only one state in the nation that has no fire code: Texas. There is only one state in the union whose laws prohibit their counties to have a fire code: Texas.

… employers use newcomers [illegal immigrants] to drive down wages because they are … in the shadows.

The minimum wage is important for many nations

People have less health care and less retirement benefits than they had 10 years ago.

In a bankruptcy, everyone around the table has an interest in making the workers take a haircut. The more the workers take a haircut, the more money there is for the bondholders and stockholders.

I say to people who are opposed to the Affordable Care Act, What is the alternative?” I don’t hear any answers.

There has never been a major program in this country that when it was first passed, didn’t have glitches in it.

People against the minimum wage say that many workers will lose their jobs. I haven’t ever met a minimum wage worker who didn’t say “Go for it!”

All we want the Labor Secretary to do is enforce the law and protect workers’ rights.